from Andrew Phillips of KPFA

For nearly a year now, Andrew Leslie Phillips has been the interim General Manager of KPFA 94.1 FM, a listener sponsored radio station which reports on progressive topics. Below is a letter from Andrew to KPFA listeners.


December 26, 2011
From the General Manager

I want to thank everyone who supported KPFA this past year including those who pledged in our mini fund drive in December. In four days we raised more than $150,000.

It's been a tumultuous, exciting, and important year. From Fukushima to Arab Spring to Occupy Wall Street and the West Coast Port shutdown, KPFA has been on it, bringing you penetrating and insightful analysis, interviews, debate, and information not available elsewhere.

But it's no secret that life at KPFA has been difficult these past few years and we are not yet through the woods.

Our finances were stabilized at the end of September, but at the end of the first quarter of our new fiscal year we find ourselves entering 2012 facing a potential deficit once again. With no reserves to carry us through, we need to conserve, tighten our belts and move forward recognizing that our role as an essential information conduit and community nexus cannot be compromised, whatever our internal disagreements may be.

KPFA hit the wall financially in 2010, and painful staff cut-backs were necessary. This brought the identity crisis that had been bubbling beneath the surface for a decade or more to a head, and it has not been easy to resolve.

One of the reasons we don't have a surplus is because KPFA spent more than $200,000 defending itself from grievances filed, refilled, and in one case, filed a third time, by the Communications Workers of America on behalf of some KPFA paid staff. Each time, the National Labor Relations Board rejected the Union's case but each time KPFA was forced to pay legal expenses to protect itself and the Pacifica Foundation. We need to find a better way to resolve these issues at this important time.

KPFA's management is committed to finding better ways -- and with your financial support, we will continue to bring you the important news, culture of our time -- and both gritty and deep analysis needed to find our way through -- as a station, community, and world.

I encourage you to use this link to make a secure online donation to KPFA, and to be as generous as you can. If you do so by December 31st your donation will be tax deductible in 2011.

Thanks Again and Very Best Wishes for the New Year!

Sincerely,

Andrew Leslie Phillips
email: Andrew [ ] kpfa.org

for more information and updates please visit Support KPFA at www.supportkpfa.org



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